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S&W Florida vacation must see things from FL Natives?

Wild and Free

Wild and Free

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Lake Sakakawea & Missouri river Of ND
My wife and I are headed to south west Florida in a few weeks for a week long get away. As the title says we are looking for advice from natives on must see things we prefer non city non typical tourist attractions, we are more into natural attractions/activities, we rarely go with plans we like to wing it as we go, after 15+ years of criss crossing the country it has never left us with a bad vacation yet.

We are flying into Orlando and renting a car there. The only thing my wife wants to see is Busch Gardens the first day in Tampa from there we are planning to head south along the gulf coast and drive the whole Key highway and back to Orlando.

So to you Florida natives we ask what your list of must see things would be in the area we are going to cover over a weeks travels?

We want to give Florida another chance, we were there in February 3 years ago and were very disappointed, left ND at mid 30's, arrive in Orlando with mid 30's temps there too, 5 days there the first day we saw over 60 was the day we left it finally hit 70 and then rained, we drove to a relatives house on the beach in New Smyrna beach and went to Daytona and down to Cocoa beach and a couple days at Kennedy space center.
 
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My in laws live on Sanibel Island and it is a beautiful place to visit and see, as well as Captiva. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge by sea kayak is a nice tour through the mangroves if you want to be on the water for not much money.

http://sanibeltrails.com/ding-darling-nwr.aspx

Gramma Dot's restaurant at the Sanibel Marina is a great place for lunch or dinner, especially if you're a boater. A must every time we go.

http://www.sanibelmarina.com/gramma.html
 
Swing down to the keys and check out The Mariners Club in Key Largo. Beautiful place. (We named our first dog Largo after that area) If you're looking to stay closer to Orlando, check out Tavares. It is a chain of lakes, restaurants on the water etc. It is also the sea plane capital with a dedicated sea plane ramp.
 
TomS said:
My in laws live on Sanibel Island and it is a beautiful place to visit and see, as well as Captiva. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge by sea kayak is a nice tour through the mangroves if you want to be on the water for not much money.

http://sanibeltrails...arling-nwr.aspx

Gramma Dot's restaurant at the Sanibel Marina is a great place for lunch or dinner, especially if you're a boater. A must every time we go.

http://www.sanibelma...com/gramma.html
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Thanks for the reply, these are exactly the type of things my wife and I like to do and see. I did some reading and it sounds like the ding darling wildlife viewing road system is closed for repaving all summer and will not reopen until October :(

lakeliving said:
Swing down to the keys and check out The Mariners Club in Key Largo. Beautiful place. (We named our first dog Largo after that area) If you're looking to stay closer to Orlando, check out Tavares. It is a chain of lakes, restaurants on the water etc. It is also the sea plane capital with a dedicated sea plane ramp.
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We are headed down to the keys as the primary destination, will defineately check it out, we are not hanging around Orlando, just flying in there and headed to the gulf side and south to the keys from there.
 
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It takes half a day, but a trip to Cabbage Key is fun and you see a nice stretch of the Intercoastal Waterway. It's only accessible by boat tour or rental boat from Sanibel or Captiva and takes about a 1/2 day to do it depending on stops.

http://www.cabbagekey.com/home/

We usually go for lunch via Captiva Cruises. It is supposedly the original "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" place, so yes it is a bit touristy, with signed dollar bills taped to all the walls and ceilings. We still enjoy the trip.
 
We live in Cape Coral. Currently in central Wi freezing our A..... Off in the cold rain and low temps.

One thing to remember, a week is not nearly enough time if yor re driving all the way to

Key West.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so whatever you like. We really enjoy kayaking the mangroves. You can rent them in most places. I recomend a guide, reasonable and fun. You can take a boat from Fort Myers to Key West and return when you want. It's a large cat and gets yo there in a few hours. Rent scooters in KW and see the sights. You can go diving off Key Largo or key West. Bahia Honda is a beautiful park on the string of keys. Stop at Islrmarada on the way down and have some fresh Mahi Mahi. It's great. You can feed the very large Tarpon while you are there.

The weather will not be cold. You will likely see some heavy rain for a short time in the pm, remember its the near tropic. Temps should be near 90 with high humidity. Be very careful of lightning in Fl.

Well, there are all kinds of things to do. Either the high tourist stuff like Bush G. Or some of the things I mentioned. Forgot, if you like beaches, Sarasota was rated the best beach in the us. Nice white sand , easy access

Have fun.
 
Pack1966 said:
We live in Cape Coral. Currently in central Wi freezing our A..... Off in the cold rain and low temps.



One thing to remember, a week is not nearly enough time if yor re driving all the way to

Key West.
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We get that statement from everyone on every vacation we have ever gone on and surprise everyone with all the ground we cover and all we squeeze in along the way.

Most don't realize how we in the upper plains states don't mess around while getting from point A to point B, it is just how we live. A lot of our lives takes place behind the wheel.

We were in Oregon and Washinton last July for a week and put over 1500 miles on our rental car that week with to us was tons of R&R along the way. Portland west to 101 to the tip of the Washington Peninsula and out to Cape Flattery on to Seattle and then to Friday Harbor and San Juan Island and back to seattle for another day or two and back to Portland for another day before returning home.

At around 400 miles one way between Orlando and Key west, it will be about the least amount of driving between points we have done. We spent 8 days on the island of Kauai Hawaii and scoured about every corner of the island several times in that time frame.

My wife puts an average of 600 miles a week on her car driving to and from work and all the diddling in between and we only live 28 miles one way from her office.

We did a driving trip from Home to Phoenix straight through non stop in 24 hours and then back north following the Colorado river up to the north side of the grand canyon to lake powell for a couple days and back through the mountains of Colorado, and put 4500 miles on in 10 days a few years ago and had so much down time on that trip we were getting board at a few stops.

Heck we even spec out the Benny with long range travel in mind, On Lake Sakakawea the 3rd largest man made lake in north America behind Mead and Powell we quite often put 150+ miles a day on the Benny running from the east to the west side of the lake and back in a day.
 
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Wow, you folks do travel. Have fun, slow down to enjoy the local culture. I would really recommend the mangrove kayaking if you really want to get a feel for backwaters Fl. If you like to fish it's a blast from a yak. Saw a 14 foot hammerhead last year. The birds and fish are super cool
 
Forgot to mention, Ding Darling has a kayaking tour around the sanctuary and you can strike out on your own on the interior pine island sound. I used to guide there it's a real nice and typical backwater Fl. You can also go backwater in the glades.
 
We live in Punta Gorda. Stop by Fishermans Village. It is a great place to,stop and have lunch and see our beautiful harbor. As you travel down further go to Everglades City and take an airboat ride. Fun fun fun. Stop in Naples and see the most beautiful city in Sw Florida. Enjoy.
 
Thank you Martman4, I had an airboat ride on my bucket list just didn't know where the best place was to get one.
 
Going south on I-75 from Tampa check out the beaches in the Sarasota area, Siesta Key and Longboat Key among others. Have lunch at the Columbia Restaurant at St. Armands Circle in Sarasota. Stop at Sanibel and Captiva Islands for sightseeing, kayaking and doing the "Sanibel Stoop". Take 41 South in Fort Myers and drive through Naples. From there stop in the Everglades for an airboat ride. If you've never driven to Key West I would definitely take the drive and not the Key West Express Boat from Ft. Myers Beach. You get the flavor of the Keys driving the route between Key Largo and Key West. Once in Key West lots of "colorful" things to see. Don't miss the nightly Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square in Key West. Taking the Conch Train in Key West is a good way to get your bearings and hear about the history of Key West. My ancestors, the Tifts, were the original builders and owners of the Hemingway House so I am partial to that attraction and would recommend a tour. All in all Key West is "unique" in it's own way.......enjoy your visit to Florida.
 
If you start in the Tampa area, have dinner at Salt Rock Grill over at Indian Shores and drinks at the Hurricane in St. Pete Beach in Pinellas County. Then head down to Siesta Key for the prettiest beach in Florida. After that, do everything that Looney Toon says. That's a good list, and you'll have a great time. Just know that the drive time from Tampa to Key West is a good 6 hours so plan for 12! Last time we drove down to the keys we ended up stopping in Islamorada at a Tiki Bar on the beach and ended up staying there for hours! It's fun to just stop in at places along the way.
 
Best mojitos in Key West IMHO : "Blue Heaven". Romantic dinner: "Louies Back Yard". Like Marco Island a lot also. Gerry
 
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Second vote for Blue Heaven in Key West! I love that place! Great food with a perfect, funky Key West atmosphere.
 
Just got home and it was a great time! First day left Orlando headed to Coco beach ate on the end of the pier and then down to spend the first night at Fort Pierce.

Second day headed south on A1A and stopped off for a bit to walk the beach at Boca Raton then headed to Key Largo for the second night, ate at Glass floored restaurant/bar called the Pilot house and marina. stayed the night at a beachfront hotel there and sat on the water front deck and enjoyed the lightening show.

Next day off to Key West for 2 days, took in all the sights and I want to send out a huge thank you to those who mentioned Blue Heaven, ate breakfast there and liked it so much we had dinner there too the same day and a 3rd time just for another piece of the best key Lime pie in the world!!!! Stayed at a very nice B&B called La Pensione Inn there and went on a Fury Rum and Regea catamaran boat ride to a corral reef for snorkeling and Rum drinks for the ride back, best Bang for the buck while on Key West!

Next day back up the keys towards The Glades and it rained most of the way through the glades so we skipped the airboat ride and headed to Sanibel island and stayed the night at Island Inn and went shelling in the huge waves on the beach for a while the next day did it again and then did the guided Kayak tour through the Mangroves at Ding Darling and went through the NWR info station but the road through the park is closed for the summer for repaving. Ate at the Island Cow and Island Pizza there both were good.

Next night stayed at the Marriot on the mainland side of Sanibel with a top floor room overlooking the bay and towards Sanibel and again enjoyed the lightning and rain showers.

Next day headed north on 41 and stopped for a walk on Venice Beach and on up to Tampa and on to Orlando for the last night at Universal City Walk eating at Margaritaville and early to bed to catch the early flight back home.

Both myself and my better half definitely liked the SW gulf coast area the best and My wife especially loved Sanibel Island and wants to go back to that area again.

Again thanks to all who made these suggestions this is what forum families do best! :D
 
Glad to hear you had a great trip! I agree with your wife about Sanibel Island. I managed an insurance agency on Sanibel Island for many years. It sure made going to work everyday so much easier! Sanibel and Captiva are beautiful islands.
 
Sounds like a fantastic trip!
 
Sounds like a wonderful trip !! I have stayed at that Marriott at the causeway in Sanibel, very nice. Just got back Monday from 6 days at WDW with some of the kids and grandkids. Polynesian on the monorail is the way to go. Sounds like we were in the "Magic Kingdom" about the same time. Just read your original post. I see you flew in and didn't do the WDW thing. Well, maybe we were in the security line at the airport at the same time. :) Gerry
 
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Ummmmm ..... PICS !!!!!! :)

Your vacation sounded like a dream !!! I was sitting here trying to picture everything, especially the snorkeling and kayaking ..... Sigh ....
 
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